United straight-faced after thrilling finish
By: Craig Stouffer
Examiner Staff Writer
May 9, 2009
D.C. United 3, Toronto FC 3
D.C. United extended its unbeaten streak to five games by salvaging a nail-biting 3-3 tie with Toronto FC in second-half stoppage time on Saturday night. They also walked away from the match both unsatisfied and unhappy, thank you very much.
“I thought it was pretty exciting, even though I thought we relaxed a little too much,” said United forward Jaime Moreno, who capped the night off with a 92nd-minute penalty kick after Toronto defender Marvell Wynne handled a Bryan Namoff cross in the box. “In the beginning, we thought it was going to be easier, and it got complicated.”
After taking a 1-0 lead into halftime, United (3-1-5) overcame two goals by Toronto forward Dwayne De Rosario and clawed back from one-goal deficits twice in the final five minutes of regulation and four minutes of added time to retain its hold on first place in MLS’ Eastern Conference.
There was no early indication of the fireworks that would show up late, as United’s crisp start turned things into a game of keep-away early. It took under ten minutes for Ange N’Silu, in his second start for D.C., to score his first MLS goal.
Toronto (3-2-4) didn’t register a shot on goal until seven minutes into the second half, when DeRosario poked a high-bouncing punt by his goalkeeper, rookie Stefan Frei, past another rookie netminder at United’s end, Milos Kocic.
“That’s the goal that changed the game,” said Kocic. “Well, it’s definitely my fault for that goal… It dropped so it was between me and [United defender] Dejan [Jakovic], and Dejan shielded DeRo, and did a good job by shielding him, and I thought I had a clear ball and somehow he put his leg up. I didn’t see his leg. I was expecting to catch the ball in my hands, and he just tipped it over me.”
Eleven minutes later, Adrian Serioux nodded Amado Guevara’s free kick past Kocic to put Toronto in front, 2-1.
Rookie Chris Pontius, in his first appearance of the season as a substitute after starting the first seven matches, tied the game, 2-2, in the 86th minute, placing fellow sub Moreno’s dummy of Rodney Wallace centering pass just under the crossbar out of Frei’s reach.
But the ensuing celebration by both D.C. and the 15,652 at RFK Stadium were premature, as DeRosario responded one minute later, running at a backpedaling United defense and unleashing with what Kocic described as a “bomb” to restore the Canadians’ advantage.
“It got crazy at the end,” said Pontius, who scored the game-winner in United’s come-from-behind 3-2 win at New York on Apr. 26. “But we’ve had a couple of those games already this year so we know how to react to those kind of situations, and we fought back again.”
On this night, Moreno scored his MLS all-time leading 125th goal with a clincial penalty kick, high and just inside the left post, but United head coach Tom Soehn was more focused on the errors.
“It’s really disappointing,” said Soehn. “We obviously made some key mistakes, and not many, but the ones that were made really cost us. It’s unacceptable. We can’t afford to do that. We can’t afford to get into a shootout at home. We were pretty much in control of the game, and then we let a bad chance get in like that, a bad giveaway, and it gives them life, and it gives them energy.”
